Category: Leaks

Display notches are, to put it kindly, an inelegant solution to a vexing design problem. How can you get as much screen as possible in a phone while still offering a front-facing camera? Most OEMs are going to notch route, but Huawei is about to try something different: a hole. Huawei is teasing a device believed to be the Nova 4, which could beat Samsung’s hole-punch phone to market.

So far, the device has appeared in a promo image as well as part of a live Chinese web broadcast. Read MoreHuawei poised to launch a phone with a hole in the screen instead of a notch was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Last week, we saw some leaked images of purported Asus ZenFone 6 prototypes with various designs. The most interesting (or most alarming, depending on your outlook) showed a notch way over on the right side of the display. We didn’t think much of it at the time since the authenticity couldn’t be verified, but a new leak suggests that this could indeed be the real deal.

Italian site HDblog.it has posted numerous photos of what it believes to be the final Asus ZenFone 6 design that will be announced at MWC 2019 in Barcelona. Read MoreAlleged Asus ZenFone 6 leak points to novel off-center notch was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Bad news Friends. Self-renowned leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer (OnLeaks) today announced that unless his following gave him donations via PayPal he’d have to stop offering leaks. Citing “critical personal reasons,” he insisted that he couldn’t go into any more detail other than the initial plea for donations. He has begun blocking those who question his motives.

Stop begging
— Jayce (@Jayce_Xel) November 4, 2018

Minutes after Steve breaking the news to his following, I passed along the above message with the reply from Jayce and was met with a swift “You are blocked from following @OnLeaks and viewing @OnLeaks‘s Tweets.” No surprise, I guess, when you call someone out on what appears to be an obvious shaking of the money bank.

Ain’t worth any money. The products get released anyway
— Jayce (@Jayce_Xel) November 4, 2018

While I hope that his critical personal situation really is nothing serious, I can’t help but raise a small smile at the idea of losing another “leaker” from the industry. While leaks are a great source of news for sites like Phandroid and are why many of you follow tech news in the first place, in my view, leaks have become something to hate over the last few years, revealing every last detail of a device before it’s unveiled, leaving almost nothing to the imagination.
What do you think? Should we breathe a sigh of relief that there may be one less leaker between us and the surprise that we used to have on the day of important tech announcements? I don’t think I’ll be losing any sleep over it.
p.s. I’m critically hungry…

We’re only a few days away from Google’s long-awaited October hardware event, but the leaks haven’t stopped. A store in Hong Kong has already started selling the Pixel 3 XL for HK$15,880 (around $2,030 US), and Engadget borrowed one of the devices for an early hands-on.
There’s not much new information here, except this is the final retail packaging and software. In the box, you get a pair of USB Type-C earbuds, a headphone jack adapter, a Type-C cable, and an 18W power adapter. Read MoreA store in Hong Kong is already selling the Pixel 3 XL was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Ah, Google. It’s like it didn’t even try to keep the Pixel phones secret this year. They’ve been leaking left and right, and now there are even more images of the device and the retail packaging you’ll get when the phone launches. Not enough? Okay, there’s also a full Chinese language review from a Hong Kong-based site.

We’ve seen images of pre-release packaging and accessories previously, but this time it’s the full retail box with the unsurprising Pixel render on the front. Read MoreFull review of the Pixel 3 XL pops up ahead of launch, plus closer look at retail box [Update] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

As we’ve previously seen rumored, some of these live wallpapers also work with the Always On Display mode on current Pixel phones. Check out this tweet from @BryceYTS showing a couple

Update 2: 2018/09/25 5:34am PDT

I knew you’d come through — thanks to Ben Hen and Rohit Rodrigues for capturing the Pixie in the videos below. Isn’t it cute…

Update 3: 2018/09/25 11:06am PDT

The APK is now up on APK Mirror if you want a safe place to install from. Read More[Update: Showing in Always On Display too] Pixel 3 live wallpapers are available to download and they’re beautiful was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Just last year, ZTE came out with the Axon M, a phone with two screens that merged to form one giant nearly-square display when it was unfolded. It looks like one awkward dual-screen phone wasn’t enough for the company, judging from leaked photos (and video) of the ZTE Nubia Z18S.

Whereas the Axon M aped the Kyocera Echo’s foldable concept, the Nubia Z18S follows the standard candybar form factor that every other phone does – just with another screen on the back. Read MoreZTE put a screen on the back of the Nubia Z18S, because why the hell not was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Google announced Assistant would work on displays a while back, but so far only third-parties have launched hardware. A new leak suggests Google is aiming to launch its own Assistant smart display called the Home Hub. Some leaked renders purport to show a device that looks like the offspring of a Chromebook and a Google Home speaker.

MySmartPrice claims to have renders of the hardware as well as screens of the official product specifications. Read MoreGoogle Home Hub smart display leaked ahead of October event, no camera in sight was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

The barrage of Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL leaks stopped for a week or two there, but we’ve got some more photos of Google’s upcoming phones. This time around, both are pictured next to each other in some pretty official-looking press renders, dressed in Google’s very nice fabric cases.

This is the first time we’re seeing photos of press renders instead of the actual devices. That said, there are still some interesting things to be gleaned from these pictures. Read MoreGoogle Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL leak side-by-side in press renders was written by the awesome team at Android Police.